From the cities to the bush, this has been one of the coldest, snowiest, miserablest winters anyone can remember. When will it end? In 19 days, officially. But when will the cold actually ease up? As soon as next week, if forecasts are to be believed.

While we shiver though an afternoon which has seen snow fall across Canberra and many other locations, here’s a rundown of some of the key stats:

- Melbourne’s average maximum temperature was just 13.1 in July. This was only 0.2 below the July average, but in an age of warming climate, it is many years since a southern Australian capital was below average for a whole month.

- Brisbane’s average monthly maximum in July was 18.1, considerably cooler than the usual 18.9.

- Adelaide’s July average maximum was also well down. It was 14.7 compared to the usual 15.3.

- Sydney’s average max of 17.4 was well up on the long term average of 16.3, though this figure was distorted slightly by a run of five days in the low 20s in the last week of July.

- Hobart’s average daily maximum of 12.1 was also slightly up on the usual 11.7, but the city more than made up for it with a bitterly cold spell in early August.

- Canberra’s average maximum temperature was 11.5 in July compared to the usual 11.4. But at night the average minimum was minus 0.7, considerably colder than the usual minus 0.1. This stat is all the more remarkable considering it rained on 14 days in July in Canberra, and the coldest nights tend to happen when it’s clear.

- Perth was slightly above average with an average maximum of 18.7 as against the usual 18.4

- Meanwhile in Darwin, the average daily maximum was 31.3 in July compared to the usual 30.6. And to think, the wimps had a big sook about how cold it was.

But raw temperature measurements don’t on their own convey just how brutal this winter has been. Some locations in the central west of NSW have now seen five snowfalls in five weeks. These are places that are lucky to see one snowfall a year.

Photo by my wife of Blackheath snow just now - lasted about 30 mins. Probably wont last long, maybe more later. pic.twitter.com/2ahce8Msag

- Two snowfalls in a week in Queensland in July, including heavy snow in the Stanthorpe area near the NSW border.

The Sunshine State. Twitter pic by Josie CarterSource:Supplied

- The heaviest sea level snowfalls in Tasmania in 20 years. Being so far south, Tasmania is the only Australian state where snow can fall to sea level. All the same, it doesn’t happen very often. But it sure did last week, with skiable (or should that be surfable) snow on the beaches.

METEOROLOGISTS speak often of a thing called the “urban heat island effect”, which is a phenomenon whereby cities are a few degrees warmer than the landscapes around them because of all the cars and heat trapped by dark surfaces.

Canberra has always been thought to be especially prone to this effect on account of all the extra hot air that purs out of Parliament House.

But not this afternoon. This afternoon it is snowing heavily in the nation’s capital, as yet another cold front in this seemingly endless winter drapes the countryside in a layer of downy white.

At 1pm it was a delightful 2 degrees at Canberra’s official weather station at the airport and a little warmer in the city. Given the right combination of atmospheric conditions (wind, humidity etc), snow can fall at temperatures up to about 4 degrees, but it’s unlikely to settle unless it’s a little or colder or the snow is extremely heavy.

Meanwhile, here’s a pic earlier of settled snow today in Blayney, about two hours north of Canberra. This is the fifth snowfall on the NSW Central Tablelands in five weeks, in what has been one of the coldest prolonged winter spells recorded in much of southern NSW and Victoria.